‘Stand together’: Rashan Charles family call for calm at vigil at Stoke Newington police station
‘Understandable anger’: protestors at today’s vigil. Photograph: Hackney Citizen
At this afternoon’s vigil for Rashan Charles and Edson Da Costa at Stoke Newington police station, the family of Charles appealed for calm following a night of violence on the streets of Dalston.
The vigil took place Friday night’s violent disorder in which riot police were pelted with fireworks and glass bottles.
#RashanCharles family spokesman calls for calm at vigil outside Stoke Newington Police Station @LBC pic.twitter.com/uwsiIK5dJg
— Derek Ferguson (@DerekFerguson4) July 29, 2017
A spokesperson for the Charles family said they understood the community’s anger, however they called for “dignified” protest.
Families of Edson and Rashan – two black men who died in the last month in London – speak outside Stoke Newington. #C4News #RashanCharles pic.twitter.com/axnnSW1PDI
— Jenny Longden (@JenLongdenC4) July 29, 2017
Earlier the family also released a statement, stating: “We appreciate all support but hostile actions or other events that may risk detracting from our current co-operative engagement and the Independent Police Complaints Commission and the Metropolitan Police is unwelcome”.
statement from the family #justiceforrash young people in Dalston please respect the wishes of the family no violence in his name! pic.twitter.com/XXICpjBnby
— Patrick Vernon (@ppvernon) July 28, 2017
Hackney South MP Meg Hillier also appealed for calm, saying on Twitter: “Understandable anger but please heed the family wishes. Protest peacefully. No more tragedy on top of this sad death of a young man.”
Understandable anger but please heed the family wishes. Protest peacefully. No more tragedy on top of this sad death if a young man https://t.co/88x6yBQed4
— MegHillierMP (@Meg_HillierMP) July 28, 2017
Meanwhile, the shadow home secretary and Hackney North MP Diane Abbott attended and spoke at the vigil, saying: “I thought it important to come here today to publicly showed my support as member of the community, as a mother and as your Member of Parliament”.
Video: @HackneyAbbott speaks at #JusticeForRash #justice4edson vigil pic.twitter.com/1EFJW9OsAN
— Stand Up To Racism (@AntiRacismDay) July 29, 2017
Charles died after being arrest by a police officer in a shop in Dalston last Saturday, 22 July. Video footage appears to show him swallowing a package before being violently restrained.
Five weeks earlier, 25 year-old Edson Da Costa from East Ham died after being detained by police using force and CS spray. He had swallowed “a number of packages” before his death, according to investigators.
Unanswered questions about the circumstances of both deaths have led to street protests.
A drug dealer killed himself by swallowing drugs. Marxists & black nationalists stir up racehate violence in response. The FakeNews media and local MP’s encourage them. Disgusting.
The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC), which is investigating the events leading to the death of Charles, said: “The IPCC has now received results of forensic analysis of an object that was removed from Rashan’s airway by paramedics.
“The object did not contain a controlled substance.”
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/aug/02/item-in-rashan-charless-throat-did-not-contain-controlled-substance
True enough Russell – but the officer’s action appears to be predicated by his preception that Rash was swallowing something illicit. No matter how much anyone distrusts the police it seems unlikely the police would want to put their hand in anyones mouth if they dont believe there is cause. This does not rule out that he had not swallowed anything else prior – which will probably be revealled with the post-mortum. The focus of the inquiry will therefore shift to whether the officer was correct in making his assumption, whether clearing his airway with force was appropriate, and whether the throw down and restraint were justified, and of course whether the police stopped his car with justification. It probably remains to be confirmed whether Rash walked away from the stop as well.
As an aside – I enjoyed your website.
In the interest of transparency, I need to illustrate that if you stand ‘on-road’ and sell a non-controlled substance (such as caffeine), you can still be breaking the law, IF you are presenting it as controlled drugs. Also caffeine, paracetamol (and basically anything white that can be ground into powder- think about that) are used as cutting agents to ‘bulk up’ drug sales and make more money for the dealer.
In other words, there are people who rip-off other people, by selling them household legal items, packaged as if they are something that will give them a high. People also sell a small quantity of illegal (expensive high-inducing) narcotics, mixed in with something legal (and therefore cheaper), to maximise their profits.
I don’t know that this is what he was doing, but his actions suggest so- (ie- why run and swallow if you were not doing something that could give grounds for a charge). I find it disingenuous for people to try and portray that AUTOMATICALLY because the substance was not controlled, he was not breaking the law and the police were in the wrong. We don’t know, which is why we have an investigation.